Design Thinking: Correlation to Common Core and NETS-S
Design thinking lends itself well to the Common Core standards and the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S). It provides opportunity to practice these standards in a real way. This year, the district is focusing on five CC standards and 3 NETS-S standards. These standards and their correlation to the design thinking process are shown below.

Five Phases of Design Thinking:
Phase 1: Discovery
This initial phase of design thinking presents a challenge or problem for the student to understand. Through prior knowledge, research, interviews, observation and collaboration, students gain knowledge of the challenge or problem.
Common Core
  • RS 1 - Read closely to determine what text says explicitly.
  • RS 10 – Read and understand complex informational text independently and proficiently.
  • SL 1 – Prepare for and participate in a range of conversations with diverse partners.
  • AV 6 - Acquire and use a range of general academic and domain specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing and listening. Demonstrate independence in gathering knowledge when encountering unknown terms important to comprehension.
NETS-S
  • Nets 4 – Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation, plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project, collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
  • Nets 2 – Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

Phase 2: Interpretation
This phase of design thinking provides the path to understanding the challenge and making sense of the information gathered. This phase aims to provide students with a clear path to follow based on their interpretation of the information found in the discovery phase.
Common Core
  • RS 1 - Read closely to determine what text says explicitly and to make logical inferences; sites specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from text.
  • WS 1 – Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant/sufficient evidence.
  • SL 1 – Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
NETS-S
  • Nets 1 - Identify trends and forecast possibilities.
  • Nets 2 - Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media, communicate information and ideas effectively.
  • Nets 4 - Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation, plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project, collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

Phase 3: Ideation
This phase give the students the opportunity to challenge themselves to find innovative ideas to solve the challenge. It is a collaborative effort to generate ideas and go through a process of choosing the ideas that best suit their efforts.
Common Core
  • WS 1 – write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant/sufficient evidence.
  • SL 1 – prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
NETS-S
  • Nets 1 – Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas products and processes, create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
  • Nets 2 – Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences, using a variety of media and formats, contribute to teams to produce original works or solve problems.
  • Nets 4 – Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project, use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

Phase 4: Prototyping
This phase has the students building their ideas. These prototypes can be a physical model, a storyboard, a sketch, a presentation, role-playing or whatever the teams deem appropriate to share their ideas to others. The goal of the prototype is to fail early to produce the best innovative solution.
Common Core
  • WS 1 – write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant/sufficient evidence.
  • SL 1 – prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
NETS-S
  • Nets 1 - Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes, create original works as a means of personal or group expression, Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues, Identify trends and forecast possibilities.
  • Nets 2 - Interact, collaborate and publish with peers experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and formats, communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences, using a variety of media and formats, contribute to teams to produce original works or solve problems.
  • Nets 4 - Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project, use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

Phase 5: Evolution/Testing
Now that the students have gone through the process of prototyping and incorporating all the feedback that they received, they are ready to take their innovative ideas to the greater public. This could be another class, the teachers or the community. From that experience and feedback they make their final changes. At this point their product/solution can be graded.
Common Core
  • WS 1 – write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant/sufficient evidence.
  • AV 6 - Acquire and use a range of general academic and domain specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing and listening.
NETS-S
  • Nets 1 - Interact, collaborate and publish with peers experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and formats, communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences, using a variety of media and formats
  • Nets 2 - Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences,
  • Nets 4 – Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

Assessment
Assessing the design thinking process can take many forms. You can use rubrics to assess the final product, the entire process or pieces of the process. It is up to you.

Created and maintained by Steven Will